Brief Introduction

China -- a Country of Many Earthquakes

China locates between the two largest seismic belts, i.e. the
circum-Pacific seismic belt and the circum-Indian seismic belt. Squeezed by the Pacific
plate, the Indian plate and the Philippine plate, the seismic fracture zones are well
developed in this area. Ever since we entered the 20th century, more than 800 earthquakes
of more than magnitude 6 have happened in China. Earthquakes have happened in almost all
the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions except in Guizhou, Zhejiang and Hong
Kong.
Earthquakes occurring in China were characterized by their high
frequencies, seismic intensity, shallow epicenter and wide
distributions. China, as a matter of fact, is a country with many earthquakes. Ever since
1900, over 550,000 people died in earthquakes in China, which takes up 53% of the total
casualties in earthquakes around the world. Ever since 1949, more than 100 destructive
earthquakes have happened in the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of
China, among which 14 of them are provinces in East China. These earthquakes caused the
death of more than 270,000 people, which took up 54% of the total death toll caused by
natural disasters in China. The earthquake stricken districts cover an area of 300,000
square kilometers and more than 7 million rooms were destroyed by earthquakes. The
earthquakes and other natural calamities are becoming the main threats to China in
peaceful time.